Abstract

This paper draws on a doctoral study nearing completion to suggest that anti-bias multicultural education is essential for developing anti-racist futures and visioning an alternative world that reflects an inclusive and respectful multicultural society. The paper argues that, to lay solid foundations for the development of anti-racist futures based on respect and mutual accord, it is imperative that anti-bias multicultural education begin in the early years. However, at the time of this study teachers were struggling to find appropriate pedagogical strategies that would promote and support anti-bias multicultural education in their classrooms. This paper discusses how the study utilised children’s literature to assist teachers with strategies that would enhance an anti-bias multicultural curriculum and teaching for social justice in preschool settings with a culturally homogeneous group of preschool children. The study’s collaborative research methodology (Participatory Action Research) is highlighted in this paper as a socially just mode of inquiry that upheld respectful relationships and partnerships that produced the co-construction of change in two preschool settings.